The lame dosbox can use only one core for the major workload. And yes, there are strong reasons why that is so. If there is stuttering, most likely your fixed cycles are too high so decrease them.

About the other problem, try other output= settings.

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

The lame dosbox can use only one core for the major workload.

Hey, it wasn't my intention to diss the dosbox and/or it's makers. Sorry! 😀
I love the dosbox!!

If there is stuttering, most likely your fixed cycles are too high so decrease them.

About the other problem, try other output= settings.

Hm, new situation: I've installed the Daum Café one now. (the 3rd different dosbox on my system) It's the 05/19/2009 version from this page http://ykhwong.x-y.net/cvs/frame.html
No idea, what is different about that one. But now my problems within the flying part seem to be vanished completely. No graphic glitches anymore and the game is running pretty smooth now. (not perfect at all, but it feels like on my P133 back in the days, now) Btw: I assume that WC4 can't run totally smooth, when flying in near and especially through big ships, anyway. No matter how fast your system is.

Well, unfortunately the old WC4-stuttering-sound-within-the-videos-problem reappears.
And if I switch the cycles back to fixed and e.g. 30000 the videos are perfect, but then the flying part begins to stutter again.
Man, that is pretty annoying. Seems like there is no adjustment, that works perfect both for the video AND the gaming part... 🙁

you can speed up and slow down dosbox with ctrl-f11/f12

so slow down for movies to 30000
and speed up for flying as high as possible (without stuttering sound)

Yeah, that thought came into my mind, too.
Changing the cpu-cylces before and after every mission. I guess, that would be solution I can live with. Though it's not the perfect answer, cause there are also videos which occur immediatly while flying... But anyways, that will do...

The more important point is that my new usb-joystick, which I just purchased via ebay, will work together with WC4... (unfortunately my old and beloved MS Sidewinder Precision Pro (or better 3D Pro Plus) doesn't supports usb -> so I bid for the usb-version of it 😁 )

you mean the joystick works or not?

I have a Sidewinder 3D Pro Plus. (but it was sold as a "Precision Pro" - it's virtually an "unreal" Precision Pro 😉 )

But it has only a gameport. And Vista doesn't support gameports - no way!!

Therefore I need a joystick with usb. (for playing WC4 on Vista via dosbox)
And because I don't wanna miss my beloved Sidewinder 3D Pro Plus, I purchased a Sidewinder Precision Pro via Ebay.
It's the same stick. The only difference is, that it has a gameport AND usb connection. (usb via adapter) It's a kind of newer version which includes the usb-technology.
Wiki can explain it better: For its electronics, the Precision Pro featured a refined hybrid system, resolving some of the hardware compatibility issues with the 3D Pro. However, with the widespread introduction of USB in consumer computers shortly after the Precision Pro was released, Microsoft soon re-released the joystick in a USB-compatible form (joysticks labeled as Part No. X03-57540, Product I.D. 85791-...[3]). The revised joystick still featured a gameport connector but had additional circuitry for interfacing with USB, and was bundled with a USB converter 😉

But, I just won the auction today. I don't have the Precision Pro, yet. So I don't know if it works together with dosbox and Wing Commander. (heard about calibration problems and stuff)

I have a similar joystick that has both gameport and usb. Weird.

he said that he bought a similar that has both gameport and usb 😉

Harekiet wrote:

I have a similar joystick that has both gameport and usb. Weird.

Yeah that's the one I bought recently. Just read my notes! 😉 😀

There are two versions of the Precision Pro. The old one, with only gameport connection. And this kind of reissue with both gameport and usb-technology. (and usb adapter)
Btw: Of course I could take your usb-adapter and connect it to my old Precision Pro (3D Pro Plus). It would fit mechanically, but it won't work, cause the older version doesn't contain the "additional circuitry for interfacing with USB". 😉

I don't know if you already tried this, but my copy of WC IV works perfectly fine in Vista 64bit without using dosbox.

Really? How did you manage that??
It's a dos-only program and Vista hasn't got a dosbox like Win95/98.
I don't even thought about the opportunity to try it just under Vista... In my imagination it feels like if I'd put a vinyl record in a cd player and vice versa... 😉

Well the version I have is a budget/re-release on EA CD-Rom Classics, which has both a windows client and a ms-dos client on 6 cd's, apparently origin later released a native-client for Windows/95.

Ok, I got my original Precision Pro Joystick now.
Well, it seems to work, but there is only one problem: If I play WC4 via dosbox Daumcafé AND fullscreen, the game/dosbox always crashes if I press the fire button (no matter if I press it within the calibration screen or while flying).

If I play under ordinary dosbox 0.73 the game doesn't crash.
But I need that CVS build for smoother grahics!! 🙁

Any ideas, what could be the reason for my problem?

Try changing output= in DOSBox 0.73.

We don't support the Daumcafe version here.

In Dosbox 0.73 the game doesn't crash, if I use the joystick.
But I just noticed another problem...

I used the keymapper (CTRL+F1) to add some former "keyboard-only"-keys to my joystick. E.g. stuff like change target, fire rockets (!), change weapons, afterburner etc. (I want to have as much keys/functions as possible on my stick).
But while flying I noticed that the remapping seems to be ended in a little mess.
I can't hold targets, if I simply shoot with joystick button 1, I also cycle the guns at the same time (therefore every single shot is shot by another gun etc.)

Within the Daumcafé version, I did not experienced that kind of problems. (the remapping seemed to work fine there) sorry 😉

check your autofire= setting
buttonwrap=false
joysticktype=ch
delete mapper.txt before every change you want to do to joystick.

I'd recommend using an external mapper like Xpadder or JoyToKey for Windows or Qjoypad for nix. Your Joystick might have software made by the manufacturer.

Thx in advance for the tips! 😀
I'll try 'em and give report later! 😉